Campaign to protect Mackintosh house from weather raises £1mil

A fundraising campaign to secure the future of the Hill House, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, has reached the £1 million mark.

The attraction in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, is suffering from damp and a project is under way to create a mesh cover for the building to protect it from wet weather for the next decade.

After launching an appeal at the beginning of February, the National Trust for Scotland said it had raised £1 million of its £1.5 million target with the help of an endowment from Robert Barr's Charitable Trust.

The Hill House will close to the public on Wednesday July 4 as preparations begin for the construction of the box, described by the charity as a suit of armour that will stop around 87% of the rainfall that falls on the property an average of 193 days each year.

The external render of the century-old property has not proved watertight and the walls have gradually become saturated and are crumbling.

The box's design and positioning will allow the house to be naturally dried out by the wind.

Key items of furniture and fittings will be removed and will go on display in an exhibition in Glasgow this summer.

The box will open to the public later in the year, with raised walkways allowing visitors to see every level of the house.

Richard Williams, general manager for Glasgow and West at the National Trust for Scotland, said: “The support we've had for the campaign has been incredible - people from across Scotland, the UK, and the world have donated what they can to save the Hill House.

“It is testament to the property's importance and Mackintosh's global appeal. We're very grateful to Robert Barr's Charitable Trust for its contribution to the campaign, which has taken us past this significant milestone.

“We still have £500,000 to raise if we want to protect this iconic piece of Scottish architecture.

“It remains imperative that we secure that amount as soon as possible, to allow the scale of work that needs to take place and we have very limited time to get the box in place around the Hill House and start the process of drying the building out."